The Prize (film)

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The Prize

Directed by	Mark Robson
Produced by	Pandro S. Berman
Written by	Ernest Lehman Irving Wallace novel
Starring	Paul Newman Edward G. Robinson Elke Sommer
Cinematography	William H. Daniels
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Release date(s)	1963
Running time	134 min.
IMDb profile

The Prize is a 1963 film starring Paul Newman Edward G. Robinson and Elke Sommer.

It was directed by Ron Shelton, produced by legendary Pandro S. Berman and adapted for the screen by Ernest Lehman from a novel by Irving Wallace.

1 Summary
2 Influences and Similarites
3 Fictional Nobel Laureates
4 External links

[edit] Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

For some reason, this year's Nobel prize in literature has been awarded to the young author Andrew Craig (Paul Newman), who seems to be more interested in women and drinking than writing. Fittingly the Swedish Foreign Department chose the young and beautiful Inger Lisa Andersson (Elke Sommer) as his personal assistant. When Craig arrives at his hotel, he is immediately introduced to another laureate. Dr. Max Stratman (Edward G. Robinson) is a famous German-American physicist, who comes to Stockholm with his young and beautiful niece Emily (Diane Baker).

When Craig meets Stratman for the second time, at a press conference, Stratman acts as if they had never met before and also displays a change in personality, now despising photographs and being less talkative. Craig then, with no time to further talk to Dr. Stratman, has to give his interview, and in short succession admits to be suffering from writers block for years, having not even started his highly anticipated next novel "Return to Carthage" and having written pulp detective stories to pay the rent. He even suggests that he may have lost his talent. Finishing off the baffled press, he then ponders the possibility that one of the laureates may be an imposter.

The nobel laureates for chemistry, Dr. Denise Marceau (Micheline Presle) and Dr. Claude Marceau (Gérard Oury), as well as his "private" secretary, Monique Souvir (Jacqueline Beer) also stay at the hotel. So do Dr. Carlo Farelli (Sergio Fantoni) and Dr. John Garrett (Kevin McCarthy) the laureates for medicine.

As the ceremonies progress Craig becomes convinced that his theory of the fake nobel laureate has merit, and pursues the case. Unfortunately, due to his reputation of heavy drinking and fiction writing, nobody believes him.

[edit] Influences and Similarites

The film has an overall Hitchcockesque mood, bearing some similarities to North by Northwest (1959). Especially the scene on the bridge and in the nudist club are most often mentioned. But this should not come as a surprise to anyone as Ernest Lehman wrote the screenplays for both films.

[edit] Fictional Nobel Laureates

Medal	Category	Laureate
	Nobel Prize in Physics	Dr. Max Stratman (Edward G. Robinson)
	Nobel Prize in Chemistry	Dr. Denise Marceau (Micheline Presle) and Dr. Claude Marceau (Gérard Oury)
	Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine	Dr. Carlo Farelli (Sergio Fantoni) and Dr. John Garrett (Kevin McCarthy)
	Nobel Prize in Literature	Andrew Craig (Paul Newman)